Anyone that has heard anything about the Mormon religion has most likely heard the name Joseph Smith. This is a man that was born in Vermont during the year of 1805 in December and he was one of 11 children.
Josephs upbringing was that of a poor family. Education wise he only had actually three years of school and as part of his daily living it included instruction in the Bible as well as being taught to read and write by his parents.
Joseph certainly showed signs of bravery when as a youngster he ended up getting typhoid fever even through complications ended up meaning that the doctors wanted to amputate his leg. Joseph as well as his parents refused to have this done and requested that just a piece of the bone be removed. He would not take any type of alcohol to dull the pain and only asked that his father hold him down while the procedure was being done. His belief in the Lord at that time was great and he walked on crutches for three years but ended up with his leg healing.
When Joseph was 14 years old there was quite a religious campaign going on throughout New York and this campaign was by many churches looking for recruits Joseph was not sure just where to go so he prayed about it and this is where the conception of the first vision took place that Joseph is claimed to have had. Joseph purports that after this first vision he received many visions from other divine messengers besides God and Christ.
Tragedy still continued to follow Joseph even after he married. They ended up having nine children which included adopting two. Out of all these children only four survived and in fact the last child born came into the world five months after Joseph himself had died.
The Church of Mormons believe that Joseph was led to a hill in New York where he received some documentation in the holy records from an angel named Maroni and this was to have given some historical history about the Americas.
During Josephs leadership of the Mormon church he witnessed it grow from a mere six members to over 26,000. This was not without having to endure great persecution from other people. Joseph claimed himself as being a prophet of God and there is no doubt that his congregation and followers believed this as well. His death came about when he was murdered by a mob in 1844 this was done in prison where the claim is that he had been jailed for false charges concerning riot and treason.
It's easy to see though that the religion that Joseph Smith started did not die when he and his brother did. The Mormon church is very strong in the United States and other countries as well.
It's hard to get a handle on just want the actual doctrine of the Mormons is their church is officially called the Church of Latter Day Saints.
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